Cheap Eat of the Week: Pho Xe Lua’s chicken satay soup

By Gizelle Lau

Published: Monday, Dec. 24, 2012, 11:11 AM

Chicken satay soup for the soul (Image: Gizelle Lau)

’Tis the season… for most of Toronto’s restaurants to close down, leaving it to the city’s stalwart Asian restaurants to keep hungry people at bay. Although Pho Xe Lua’s late-night history isn’t stellar (ahem, remember Halloween?), it’s definitely got some hit-the-spot food and it will be open over the holidays.

Navigate the hundred-something item menu for dozens of options under $10, or go for something different than your typical #101 pho and check off #214: pho sate thit ga, or satay chicken with rice noodle soup ($6.50).

The pleasantly thick, Asian-style BBQ satay soup comes with your choice of meat (beef, chicken, pork) and noodles (egg or rice). Throw in a Vietnamese-style coffee ($2.50), made with hickory and condensed milk, and you’re golden.

Gizelle Lau is a food/travel writer and photographer in Toronto who lives from one meal to the next. Her column, Cheap Eat of the Week, highlights dishes that costs $10 or less. Follow her on Twitter for your daily dose of food from in and around the city.

In the last two years, Kensington Market has become a hotspot for popups making the jump to open a restaurant. Blackbird Baking, Seven Lives, Dirtybird led the way for the latest, counter service restaurant that is doing something unique to Toronto